How do you feel about the Supreme Court decision to acquit Webb, et al?

NAKAKAHIYA!!! PITO ang PINALAYA ng PITOng WALANGHIYA... kung malinis ang BUDHI ng PITOng WALANGHIYA ay HINDI dapat NILA ito GINAWA!! BOW!!.. P.S. at kung nagkagayun TAMA PALA ang mga BATA 7=7 ,,7 + 7=14, di ba iyan ang paboritong numero ng rapist na MAYOR SANCHEZ,, OOPS WHAT A COINCIDENCE... SO DAPAT LABING-APAT ANG ILIPAT NG KULUNGAN... PARA MABAGO NA ANG KANTANG OCHO OCHO GAWIN NA NATING PITO PITO..KAWAWA NAMAN ANG SAMBAYANAN... SA MGA MAPAGLARONG KORTE NG ATING LIPUNAN!! TALAGA BANG NAKAPIRING ANG SIMBOLO NG COLLEGE OF LAW... KAYA DI MATIMBANG SA TAMA ANG ANG PAGBIBIGAY HUSTISYA... O BAKA NAMAN NILAGYAN NG GINTO'T PILAK ANG MAY HAWAK NG TIMBANGAN

The supreme court is blind that is why they cannot see. Those judges who can see are the real judges. All those judges in the supreme court are there politically. They are under the influence of politicians like Hubert's father. Actually it is very easy to see the truth when you are a judge, because you have that power and that is the main reason that you are there. That is why that you became a judge. But our judges varies from person to person especially when there is money involve, because that is the weakness of almost all Filipinos. However, let them go to other countries and it is very different. In this case my question is: 1. Because Hubert was not the killer then who killed those Vizcondes? Do not tell me they killed themselves? Or do not tell me they were murdered by a ghost as there were no other criminals involved here. If the Webb family firmly believes that there son was not a murderer then why he is implicated? Then what was the intention of stealing, burning and tampering the evidence of the crime? The supreme court should convict the killer if the killer is not Hubert. Then find out the killer and at the same time that you acquit Hubert you convict the real killer accordingly. And that is what justice means. But if you acquit Hubert and convict no one, then justice is not serve. But who will be convicted if you acquitted Hubert? Who is now the killer? If the only person or persons involved are they Hubert party then they are the criminals and no other. For more nearly two decades they supreme court finds nothing against Hubert? But for simple criminals they find so many things.What is wrong here is that the supreme court and the rest of the agencies involved are all composed of corrupt officials which look at Money as there God. They don't see the truth of the matter. Why you can acquit a criminal just because of the DNA when in fact DNA is not a part of our Justice System? If I am the President I will remove all those corrupt justices and other officials involved in these case in favor of acquittal. For sure big money was involved here. I know that those people will not act accordingly without big money because that is our society. Why Mr. Pamaran can see what is the truth on the first hearing and others cannot. What is the difference between judges that others cannot do. And what is the difference between the laws that is applied in the lower courts than the supreme court? We have the same set of laws that governed criminals. And criminals must not be tolerated, to include these justices in favor of acquitting Hubert Webb for that matter. In fact they are now the criminals of our justice system and they only thing that we can do in this particular case is to remove those justices and other people involved in the manipulation of acquitting this criminal. - http://chingesictheblogger.blogspot.com/

First of all, why did it take a long, long time to decide this case. The first judge who heard this case was biased. She already decided the guilt of the accused even before she ruled on their guilt. Why did she not get all the evidence presented to the court instead of picking what she wants to see and hear to arrive at her decision. The U.S. government will never give a signed statement attesting to the fact that Hubert Webb is in the U.S. when the crime occurred. Remember, even High Ranking officials are tried and convicted in the U.S. court (i.e. governors, senators etc.) The FBI and Immigration has no interest but to give the facts and the truth as to whereabouts of Hubert Webb. Why were these statements not taken into consideration? Even the NBI and the agents that conducted the investigation bungled up the process. Something is really very wrong here. I hope and pray that this will not happen to anyone. JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED. There were so many leads that should have been investigated the first time around. I still believe in the integrity of the Philippine Supreme Court. For me, there was a very great Reasonable Doubt in this case. God Bless the Philippines.

It should not have been an acquittal because under the law, acquittal means the criminal liability of the accused are all erased. This means that they do not have any criminal record despite their being in jail for 15 years. It should have been just a decision to lower their criminal liability to homicide and no longer murder with all the mitigating circumstances under the law. So after 15 years of imprisonment, it could be considered that they have already served their sentence and that they have to be freed. The decision of acquitting all the accused would leave in the minds of the people as to who really killed the Vizconde women? Since the accused Webb et al were pinpointed to have done the crime on that day, there could have been probable cause that they could have done it because they were charged in court and that they were really in the vicinity of the place when the crime took place. For purposes of granting the argument that Hubert Webb was in the US, so someone from among their group could have done it because they were the identified gang who were around the crime scene at that particular day and time. By acquitting everyone, so the big question is "who killed the Vizconde women?" Were there other culprits around? Only God knows who is telling the truth about this case....

I believe it was a justice delayed.... Blame the judge who made that decision to convict Webb and the others. The decision was really not a "beyond reasonable doubt" decision. She did not exhaust all possible avenue to seek for the truth. Why she did not grant DNA test request by the Webb is a question that she must answer. Why there are so many witnesess and documentary evidences that were thrown out and just rely on the testimony of Alfaro, who was found out that she was an NBI agent pala and not a witness. Why did NBI did not secure blood samples when in fact they know that the case is still on appeal. The SC should now order the police and NBI to look for the other 2 suspect - Fillart and another one. I am sorry for Mr. Vizconde but to convict people who are not really the culprit is not a justice served. He knew that something was wrong with the decision but because there is no new development then, he closed his eyes and accepted the verdict even if the decision is not beyond reasonable doubt. What should console him is that God was not sleeping then and is not sleeping now. Those who have done it will suffer judgment before the very eyes of an angry God.

The decision is absurd, stupid, and not cognizant of the facts. The accused were charged and found guilty of rape and multiple murder. The lower court had actual contact and was able to see, observe the demeanor of all witnesses and some accused (Note: there were 2 who are still in hiding up to now. Their flight is already a sign of guilt on their part.) These justices were only reading from the lower court transcripts; from those transcripts they surmised that all of those held are innocent. Webb alleged a defense of alibi (that he was in the states when the murder/rape occurred.) They also claim that DNA evidence was not examined, and that the sperm sample was missing or misplaced by the police or NBI. With the lapse of 15 years, blood or sperm samples that are not refrigerated would certainly be lost or decomposed by now. Evidence submitted by the fiscal would be with the clerk of court and no longer with the police (precisely, Biong the cop burned the evidence -the bloody clothes-and he was charged and found guilty of tampering with the evidence.) The failure of the accused's counsel to Challenge the evidence before the lower court should not be their ticket to freedom due to the reasonable doubt rule. If all the convicted rapists in Muntinglupa would request that the DNA evidence be re-evaluated after 10-15 years, and the blood sample were to be already missing, would the SC declare all those convicts innocent due to the reasonable doubt rule. Should they not have only released Webb and held on to the other accused. The DNA only brings to doubt the rape and not the murder. It was the victim Carmelita Visconde who told her father by phone that she rejected a suitor who also lived in the BF Subdivision Area. It would have been easy then for the rich to come in and out ot the Philippines and have an alibi of being in the states when the crime occurred.Is there a different justice for the rich than for the poor languishing in jail, because they don't have high class lawyers.

The Vizcondes & the Webbs are both victims here! They are victims of unfair trail bcoz the authories were corrupt & poor in intelligence... where did all the intelligence funds go? in protecting a false witness? in the "trial & error" arresting, torturing & presenting of suspects? in manipulating or mishandling the forensic evidences?

Hubert Webb is a victim of "sympathy system" in the judicial system that sometimes the logical evidences & "credibility of witness" would not matter any more -- this happened in the RTC & CA who both convicted him & the others. The truth should come out. Thanks to the SC! Circumstancial evidences speaks for Hubert & the SC considered them.

Bottomline, the SC's decision of acquitting Hubert & Co. may be good for the Webbs & others but the authorities should do their best to find out who really did the massacre! One last thing, the Webbs have money to pursue the case up to the SC. If they don't, the decision of the lower courts could have sent a wrongly accused by a fake witness to rot in jail for the rest of his life!

The Supreme Court's decision is based on the merits presented by the prosecution and the defense. The highest tribunal cannot do otherwise since the prosecution was not able to prove beyond reasonable doubt the guilt of the accused. There is simply not enough evidence to prove that Webb & Co. was the real perpetrators. However, according to the SC, acquittal here doesn't mean innocence. So we should now turn our attention to the investigation conducted by the police 20 years ago. As it turn out, there was this policeman - Gerardo Biong - who destroyed evidence[s] recovered from the scene, and worse, the same policeman ordered the scene of the crime cleaned. We should not believe this officer when he said that his sole motive for the cleaning of the room was because of the foul smell that came from the blood of the victims. Mr. Biong has been a policeman for a considerable period of time when the Vizconde massacre happened, so whether he is an investigator or not, the protection of evidence[s] and the scene of the crime should be moot and academic to him and it should and must be his most immediate priority. We cannot prove all this years that he deliberately destroyed the evidences because he was paid by the Webbs. However, for whatever mistake this naive of policeman made 20 years ago, he already paid it by serving time in jail. You can just imagine how difficult it is for a policeman to be in jail. I am even wondering how he stayed alive all these years behind bars.

My point here now is this: How many Gerardo Biongs do we have - and still have - in our police force? Let us spare at the moment that this naive policeman was paid to destroy/tamper evidences. Let us just focus on his - can we call it stupidity - negligence and why on earth did he destroy evidence[s] and cleaned the room where the crime happened? Perhaps the real story and the real criminals will never be known. But three things is certain: [1] Carmela, her sister and her mother all died a gruesome death; [2] the primary suspects (after serving 15 years behind bars) were acquitted and are now free; [3] the incompetence of our police force in handling/protecting the scene of the crime and evidences.

The competence of our police force is very questionable. When can we have a police force that is both professional and respected for their competence and devotion to their duty? They are supposed to be the first line of our defense for keeping us safe in our homes; and they are supposed to be the truth seekers based on the evidence[s] taken from the crime scene - if there is a crime committed like the Vizconde massacre - and it must be their most immediate priority to keep it untouched, untampered and untainted because the truth lies in there and the justice to the victims may also lie in there, and that the criminals are brought to justice in a fair trial.

We should not blame on the justice system. Experts as they maybe in their chosen field, but they rely mostly on the evidences gathered by the police as well as the investigation of law enforcement agencies in our country including the NBI. In the end, not only the Vizconde are the victims here, but the whole Filipino people as well. The first casualty however, since day one when Gerardo Biong destroyed the evidences, is the TRUTH.

On the legal side, the Justices who voted in favor of acquitting Webb et al may be justified on the ground that conviction of such nature involves proof beyond reasonable doubt. Considering the circumstances of the case, there's no gainsaying the fact that there really was some cloud of doubt as to the guilt of Webb. If he was guilty, it was a failure on the part of the prosecution to do their job with airtight precision; if he was not, even Webb was a victim here. All said and done, after 15 long years of incarceration, Webb et al had suffered a lot and so had Lauro Visconde. Fifteen long years of otherwise fruitful existence had been laid to waste. One who believes in God's justice should just move on and leave everything negative behind him, having faith that all is in God's hands. Now that the Supreme Court has spoken, other legal options are still open to Lauro, if he elects to pursue them any further and, when the SC speaks with finality against his expectations, there's nothing more to do than take a respite from all his bitterness and vindictive stance.

It is unfortunate that this decision had to come about at a time when the Supreme Court has just suffered some setback due to the plagiarism scandal that badly tainted its integrity and credibility. I, for one, am for some sanction against the "erring" Justice. It was a very bad precedent to have publicly acknowledged, albeit not expressly, that 'cheating' is not bad as long as you have colleagues in high places that can defend you. Too bad: the Supreme Court's integrity and credibility as a collegial body (because there are still other Justices who deserve the robe) has sunk to, probably, its deepest.

One has to remember the words guilty beyond reasonable doubt. The accused does not have to prove that they did not commit the crime. They only have to show reasonable doubt. The fact that the Webbs produced documents from the USA that Hubert was in the US at the time of the crime, and that the evidence was given by people who have no interest in the case, creates reasonable doubt.

It is a shame that they had to suffer 15 years in prison when they established reasonable doubt but the Philippine court system refused to recognize the evidence. Note that the prosecution has the burden of proving that the evidence was fake (as claimed) and not the accused.

Now, Mr. Visconde is distraught and the fact is, it is very possible that the real perpetrators are free. After 15 years, it is so much harder to find them if really someone else did the crime.

In this case, you have 2 victims, the group of Mr. Visconde and the group of the Webbs. This is a disgrace to the justice system of the Philippines.

I feel confused! First of all, it is not for the Supreme Court to disturb the factual findings of the trial court. The Supreme Court is not a trier of facts. Why would they now evaluate the quality of the testimonies of the witnesses?

I believe that the flight of the two(2) suspects from Webb's group is an indication of the group's guilt. That's what the jurisprudence says. Also, there were tampering and destruction of evidence that happened. That should have been considered by the Supreme Court. Why would those evidence, especially the semens that would have been very vital to the identity of the rapist-killer, be destroyed if they did not matter?

What got me confused is that I know that one of the Justices that voted in favor of Webb's Petition, Justice Meylou Sereno, is a person of integrity. Well, I am sharing this view without the benefit of reading the full text of the Decision. The foregoing is just my initial reaction. May the Lord guide and enlighten the Justices and judges of this country at all times. May they be protected from all human frailties.